Have you ever wondered what happened to
the 56
men who signed the Declaration of
Independence?
Five signers were captured by the
British as traitors,
and tortured before they
died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and
burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the
Revolutionary Army;
another had two sons
captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from
wounds or
hardships of the Revolutionary
War.
They signed and they pledged their
lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred
honor.
What kind of men were
they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and
jurists.
Eleven were merchants, nine were
farmers and
large plantation owners; men of means,
well-educated,
but they signed the Declaration of
Independence
knowing full well that the penalty
would be death if
they were
captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy
planter and
trader, saw his ships swept from the
seas by
the British Navy. He sold his home
and
properties to pay his debts, and died
in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the
British
that he was forced to move his family
almost
constantly. He served in the Congress
without pay,
and his family was kept in hiding. His
possessions
were taken from him, and poverty was
his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the
properties of Dillery, Hall,
Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward,
Ruttledge, and
Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas
Nelson,Jr., noted that
the British General Cornwallis had taken over the
Nelson
home for his headquarters. He quietly
urged General
George Washington to open fire. The
home was
destroyed, and Nelson died
bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and
properties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his
wife, and she died
within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's
bedside as she was
dying. Their 13 children fled for
their lives. His fields and his
gristmill were laid to waste. For more
than a year he lived in
forests and caves, returning home to
find his wife dead and his
children
vanished.
We thank these early
patriots,
as well as those patriots now fighting
to KEEP our freedom!
